Sam Winnall celebrates for Derby County at Leeds United (Image: Andy Clarke)

However, he lost his place in the team following the 4-2 home defeat to Reading and then missed three matches due to an ankle injury.

He returned to action as a late substitute in last weekend's 1-0 victory over Burton Albion - his first appearance in almost a month as he battles it out for a starting spot with the likes of Chris Martin, David Nugent and Matej Vydra.

"He's been really unfortunate," said Derby boss Gary Rowett. "Sam came in and I think Nuge's form at the time had been really, really good, and the Nugent-Vydra combination was working very well for us. So it was very difficult to change that.

"Sam came into the team off the bench and did really well - scoring us goals to win us games and get us points in games.

"Then he got injured and had to come out of the side for three games, which of course is frustrating.

"Sam is one of those players who's desperate to get on the pitch, he's desperate to play in every game, he's desperate to play every minute.

"So if he's on the bench and you don't bring him on, he's disappointed, but he shows that mentality when he gets on the pitch, so you can't have it both ways.

"You can't have someone who's really compliant off the pitch and then comes on with great desire. The reality is he shows all of that around the place.

"But he'll be a big player for us over the coming months. He'll get chances to start and chances to come off the bench and influence a game.

"I know that this weekend's game will be one that he's incredibly keen to play in but, of course, we've got other players who will be incredibly keen to play in it as well.

"We need those options up front and when you've got three or four very, very good strikers, unfortunately, two or three of them are going to have to settle for a place on the bench and impact the game later on."